Kenyan EdTech Kidato Secures $1.4m Seed Investment After Sillicon Valley Funding

Education technology startup based in Kenya, Kidato, has raised a seed investment of US$1.4 million. The fund is expected to power the company’s product development and aid its growth.

The latest funding comes after Kidato was accepted into the Silicon Valley-based accelerator Y Combinator Winter 2021 batch, through which it secured US$125,000 in seed funding.

The investors who participated in Kidato’s current funding round include, Learn Start Capital, Launch Africa Ventures, Graph Ventures, and Century Oak Capital, Ivy League university endowment fund, and other local and global angel investors.

Reacting to the newest investment, Kidato founder, Sam Gichuru said, “we are also very honoured to have some of our students’ parents join as investors as well. Their faith and belief in our mission is truly humbling.”

“The demand for online education has grown from the convergence of a fast growing middle class and high internet penetration with enabling infrastructure services such as Zoom that has seen easier adoption of remote work. Additionally, cutting out commute time in highly congested cities is a welcome relief for parents as it means being able to spend more time with their children.,” he added.

In less than one year of launch and with 700 registered students from eight countries around the world, Kidato is gaining traction in Africa and touted as a reliable and affordable digital education platform that provides a high-quality teaching experience for K-12 students.

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Over the years, African parents have had to choose between either the overpopulated public schools that have the highest student-teacher ratios – as high as 50:1 – or the expensive private schools.

Kidato’s establishment gives the parents a third and far better option. Plus, with its 5:1 student-teacher ratios, the startup adopted the same rigorous international curriculum used by other private schools and parents are only expected to pay a fraction of the price paid by private school parents.